The distraught mother of a missing Belfast loyalist feared murdered today said she accepted she would probably never see him alive again.
Alan McCullough, a former associate of jailed terror boss Johnny Adair, vanished after leaving his home with two top paramilitaries six days ago.
The 21-year-old had only just returned from exile in England following a power struggle within the Ulster Defence Association (UDA).
Even though he had been assured it was safe to come back, his mother had pleaded with him not to trust the organisation.
As new appeals were made for the UDA to come clean about the suspected killing, Barbara McCullough admitted her son was almost certainly dead. "We think the worst. There is very little hope," she said.
Senior loyalist sources have confirmed the disappearance was directly linked to the assassination of Adair's main rival within the UDA, John Gregg, near Belfast Docks in February.
Following the murder all members of Adair's rogue faction were driven out of their power base in West Belfast's Lower Shankhill estate and forced to flee Northern Ireland.
Among those who boarded ferries bound for Scotland and England was McCullough, who had been installed as military commander of the splinter C company once Adair was returned to prison for allegedly igniting the vicious feud that killed four.
It is understood he thought it was safe to return to Belfast two weeks ago after talks involving top members of the terror organisation. But he was summoned to attend a meeting with supporters of Gregg in the UDA's South East Antrim brigade area and has not been seen since.
Six men have been arrested, but all have been released without charge.